Serious natural and human-caused hazards challenge the nation today. Every community must strive to protect its population and facilities. Earthquake-hazard professionals continue to apply their skills to help communities mitigate hazards; however, no prescribed formula will protect everyone from everything. The needs often appear to be far greater than the resources: the need to accurately identify and assess the population and structures at risk, and the need to convey the correct message to the potential victims, the need to secure funding and resources to achieve desired mitigation goals.

In view of competing needs, how should local communities address events of low frequency and high consequence? How can such communities, in dealing with earthquakes for example, compete with other priorities for scarce resources? What are the specific and realistic ingredients for a given community to make a successful leap from its assessment to effective awareness to best action?